I live in the north east U.S. and wanted to know if they can hibernate outside in my area. I don't have any at this time but I was thinking of getting some. Thanks in advance.
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Russian tortoise hibernation
turtlelush
Jan 25, 2009 04:17 PM
Replies (1)
bradtort
Jan 28, 2009 09:47 AM
I live in the midwest (Missouri), so my weather is a little different.
BUT, I wouldn't try it outside around here. Too damp, with sometimes extreme swings in temperature. I prefer to hibernate my Russian torts in the basement. The basement is dry and the temperatures change slowly. My torts seem to shut down on their own when it drops below 60F and stay down until it gets above 60F. I just put them in a dry enclosure with some newspaper for cover. Every couple weeks I pull them out and give them a soak. They wake up healthy and hungry after about 3 months.
Outdoors it rains too much and the temps can drop well below freezing. We've hit near zero (F) a few times this year.
Don't hibernate the first year you have them - it takes awhile to make sure they are healthy enough for this. Read up on the proper way to prepare them for hibernation.
Good luck.
